She takes requests
Pat Anderson receives referrals from oncology patient navigators at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego for women who’d like a pair of Busters.
She also takes requests via email at spinshuttlestudio@gmail.com. breast cancer. Four years later, her husband passed away. When her eldest son and caretaker, Erik, died this year, she moved into Escondido’s Redwood Terrace retirement community with her dog Charlotte, a Rhodesian ridgeback.
‘The greatest thing’
Among her satisfied recipients is Cindee Collins of Murrieta, California, who lost both her mother and grandmother to breast cancer. After her doublemastectomy a few years ago, she found Anderson’s Busters during an online search for prosthetics.
Collins said she loves how she can fit the soft, adjustable, lightweight and fully washable Busters in the pockets of her sports bra, and she especially loves how they were designed by a breast cancer survivor who understands the challenge mastectomy patients face.
“She’s just a lovely, lovely lady and she does this for the love of it,” Collins said. “I think these are the greatest thing since sliced bread.”
Anderson underwrites the cost of her materials, including the cellophane gift bags she packages the Busters in and the butterflydecorated shipping bags in which she mails them. Inside each package is a letter bestowing upon the recipient honorary membership in the Sisterhood.
Recipients can make an optional donation for postage, and many checks have come in tucked into handwritten thank-you cards. What Anderson doesn’t use for postage, she saves and donates to Sharp Memorial Hospital’s breast cancer program.
Anderson said she plans to use the rest of her retirement years making Busters and hopes one day to pass along the project to other master knitters or members of the Sisterhood.
“This whole experience has been the most fun I’ve had yet,” she said. “It’s so fulfilling talking to these women who all appreciate that
I’m a survivor. I know what they’re going through because I’ve been where they’ve been.”